Real Men Sparkle
by O r i g i n a l1
Summary: Bella and Jake need to talk. But what exactly is it that they need to talk about? One shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or New Moon; if I did I would be a very happy camper.

**Real Men Sparkle**

Bella rolled her eyes at the phone and hung it up with a click. Walking over to Edward, the human huffed as she sat down in his lap. Edward gave her a questioning gaze and Bella returned it with an exasperated look.

"You heard everything," She accused.

"Yes, but that doesn't tell me what you are going to do about it," came the calm reply.

"I am still grounded, so there is no way I could just go up there and meet him. But I really do miss Jake . . . And he is right, I need to talk to him and the rest of the pack." Bella sighed. Then as if by magic, Edward saw the wheels start turning in her head. Even though the mind reader could not hear her thoughts, he knew by some unseen force that he wouldn't like where they were leading her.

"Bella . . ." Edward said as she stood up and started to pace around the kitchen. She suddenly stopped and turned to look at her vampire boyfriend with a determined gleam in her eye.

"I know what I am going to do. I am going to sneak down there tonight."

"You're going to do what?!" Edward stood up and walked over to Bella, hoping to knock some sense of self-preservation into her. How could Bella constantly put herself in mortal danger? And with a pack of teenage werewolves no less?

"I am just going down there to talk to him." She remained stead firm.

"No. It's dangerous. I mean, if any of those dogs lost their tempers, you would get hurt. Besides, what about Charlie?" His voice rose as he shook his head. Bella raised her eyebrow at the word "dog", but let it go figuring it was a moot point anyway.

"What Charlie doesn't know, won't hurt him. He doesn't know you come over at night, right? So, he won't know if I am gone for just a few hours."

"That is completely different. If anything—"

"Is it?" There was a slight pause, and Edward suddenly smirked. His mortal girlfriend felt a rush of fear at his sudden confidence.

"Wha-" In a flash, Bella found herself up against the wall with Edward standing right in front of her, hands on both sides of her head. This pose was very similar to that of the day she first met James, when Edward was trying to convince her to run on his back. Figuring out his little game, Bella tried to continue before he hypnotized her, "Look it's—"

It was too late, however. Edward's lips moved gracefully down her throat creating a definitely distracted Bella. When he reached the base of her neck, he raised his head to her ear. Murmuring sweet nothings, his voice flew over her ear and Bella shivered in delight.

"I am still— still – still going," the distracted girl managed to choke out.

"Why?" he breathed as his lips moved over hers in a passionate kiss. At that moment Bella didn't believe she could have breathed (even if his lips weren't on hers), let alone think. She unwillingly tried to collect her thoughts. _Mmmmm . . . that feels nice, I need to … to… do something . . . but what? _Edward then took that moment to let her breathe, but he still continued to dazzle her with his honey orbs and sweet cooing noises, making her even more annoyed that concentrate. _I need to talk… to Edward? To Charlie? No, to Jacob. _Jacob, sneaking out, Edward not wanting her to go, it suddenly flew back to her.

"I need to talk to him," Bella murmured, firmly as a breathless girl could. At first Edward's arms dropped slowly, and then he raised his hands to place her soldiers. Bella protested, "Edward, I am going tonight." Edward opened his mouth to argue, but she beat him to it, "And that is final."

Edward pouted.

Twilight New Moon Eclipse

"Hey Jake!" Bella said into the phone. She idly wrapped the cord around her finger as she listened to Jake greet her and watched Edward pout at her kitchen table.

"Bella?" Jake's surprised voice came over the phone. Edward fought the urge to rip the phone out of his girlfriend's hands and slam it on to the receiver. Who could blame him for wanting to protect his girlfriend from the "big bad werewolf"? And Jake was the big bad werewolf in his eyes. He might have saved Bella when Edward was . . . gone, but in Edward's eyes, Jake would never have enough resistance to hang around Bella.

"You're not busy tonight, right?" Bella asked.

There was a short pause as Jake looked to Sam, Bella figured. "No," he responded.

"Would it be possible if you came over here tonight?" Bella asked with a hopeful tone in her voice.

"Errr. . . Bells, I don't think that is a good idea. I don't think the leeches would appreciate that, and Sam and the guys don't want me in _their_ territory." Jake explained gently. Edward snarled silently at the term of "leeches". He did, however, look happy that the dogs weren't coming over. Maybe Bella would give up now?

"That's okay. Would it be possible if I came over there?" This time Edward snarled loudly, definitely disagreeing with the idea. He looked like he was seconds from reaching over and grabbing the phone out of Bella's hands and telling Jake to forget it. Scratch that; he had already taken the phone from Bella.

"She is not going over there to be surrounded by a bunch of temperamental dogs. One might be debatable, but not six," Edward whispered icily into the phone.

"_We_ would never hurt her," Jake replied rather hotly. The accusation was burning on his lips. Bella took the phone from Edward as a scramble was heard on the other end. "You dirty blood sucker . . ." Paul apparently won the fight for the phone. Bella took the phone away from her ear, but she could still hear Paul continuing to tell Edward exactly what he thought of him.

"Paul," Bella whispered horrified, efficiently interrupting him in the middle of a rather violent . . . errr. . . description. There was an awkward silence at the other end. Her face was flushed and she looked a little surprised at Paul's imagination. On the other side of the line, Bella heard yet another physical fight.

"Bella? Ummmm, how much did you hear?" Jake said as he once more took control over the phone line. Bella blushed even redder. She looked at Edward who held his hand out expectedly for the phone. She quickly gave him it and rushed up the stairs, leaving a vampire and a werewolf to make the plans. (AN: Isn't that dangerous?)

Twilight New Moon Eclipse

So after much arguing, Edward and Jake came to an agreement. Edward would park his car a mile from Charlie's house. He would take Bella as far as he could, in other words, to the border. Jake would meet Bella there. The pack would be nowhere in sight, so there would be no chance that Paul could go haywire. Bella and Jake would go on a little walk. They would talk within screaming range, if Jacob decided to transform. They had only one hour to talk or Edward would have every right to go nuts. All of this would start at the second time Bella's father went to check up on her, which would be in about five minutes, making it about 12:30 at night.

Edward froze. _Or not. _Bella thought as Edward vanished and supposedly reappeared in her closet. Charlie slowly cracked open the door and stuck his head inside. Bella kept calm and made her breathing look long and steady. Charlie smiled as he closed the door. When his footsteps faded, Edward stuck his head out of the closet. He frowned.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked grimly.

"Oh, come on," Bella huffed. Edward leaned down slightly and Bella climbed on his back, hooked her arms around his neck and circled her feet around his body. Edward leaped out of the window to the ground two stories below. Bella's breath got caught in her throat. She watched the trees fly by and the house disappear. In the blink of an eye, Edward had slowed his pace, put Bella in the passenger seat, buckled her up, and was sitting in the driver's seat glaring at an invisible spot in front of the car. Bella gave Edward a look. He turned on the ignition as if to say "alright, you win". They continued to their destination.

The trip to La Push was the shortest trip Bella had taken, but then again, when anyone is driving over a hundred fifteen, what should have been an hour and a half turns into about twenty minutes. When the couple arrived, Jacob Black was already waiting for them.

Twilight New Moon Eclipse

Jake stood on the side of the road, barefoot, underneath a street light. His mouth, set in a grim line, made him look oddly serious against the relaxed mossy green background of the forest. When they approached, the wolf's eyes remained dead set on Edward and his lips pulled into an even tighter frown. Both boys were tensed like there was something foul in the air.

As Bella watched the two, her eyes glazed over. Memories of Edward's gentleman-like behavior and Jake's carefree nature invaded her mind. Tears rose to the brim of Bella's eyes when she realized they would never stop fighting. They would never get along. It was their nature to hate each other. The tears did not go unnoticed by either of the mythical creatures. Edward frowned. Jake looked grim.

Bella's thoughts turned to 'what if's'. What if they had been born in a different time, under different circumstances? The idea of Jake and Edward being close friends didn't sound too unrealistic. Bella had to smile at the idea of the two teenagers doing something that would drive her up the wall, like insulting her poor truck.

Bella frowned when reality reappeared. She pulled herself from her thoughts and looked at her boys' faces. Their eyes were full of confusion. A full blown smile appeared on Bella's face when she realized what they had been trying to read her facial expressions. The smile made them even more confused. _Thank God neither of them can read my thoughts. _(AN: Who wants to bet had this actually been happening Jake and Edward would be thinking _I wish I could hear her thoughts._)

Jacob then cleared his throat.

Twilight New Moon Eclipse

The walk itself was not very long, though it could have been shorter had a more graceful human been walking in the woods. It was hilarious to see Bella stumble in the dark as her eyes refused to adjust to the darkness. Jake helped Bella most of the way, making sure to lift her over any roots that were sticking out of the ground. She felt very accomplished knowing she had only tripped twice in the dark.

The pair finally stopped in the middle of a clearing. Clearing might not have been an appropriate word to describe it, more like an area where even the mossy underbrush wouldn't grow. Bella sat down on a fallen tree, her feet digging circles into the dirt. After a second of hesitation, Jake sat down next to her.

"Do you know what you are getting into?" his sullen voice broke the silence.

"I know that I couldn't live without him," Bella's voice whispered back.

"But you did, you did survive without him. When he was gone, you—you made it without him." Bella looked at Jake with a sad expression. A glint of something appeared in his eye, "Bella, you can do it again. You don't need to be with him, or to make your life a half one, a dark one. Do you understand?" There was a short pause, "I love you." Her expression became sadder. Minutes passed, and all they did was look at each other. "Say something, anything," He begged.

"You said I survived without him. That's true, Jake. But I didn't live without him. I was merely there. Toward the end, especially when I was hanging out with you, I felt like I was living. But I wasn't, Jake. I was just getting use to the pain. Pain . . . it lets you know something is wrong. Something is wrong when Edward isn't in my life. Even when it fades, it is still there, just a memory below the surface. It's love that keeps you living. And I do, I do love you Jake. More than you will ever know. You will always be my family. And I will always love you unconditionally, just not in the way I love Edward. He will keep me living, even if my heart won't be beating."

Jake's heart shattered. "I. . . I don't understand. You can't live without him because love keeps you going, but you love me. Am I not enough? Bella, I swear, I can make you happy," His voice was laced with pain.

"You are going to make a girl very happy one day, but I am not that girl." Bella tried to break it gently. At her words, an overwhelming feeling of betrayal flooded Jake's heart.

"And Edward is that man to make you happy? That man you want for the rest of your life?" Jake snorted out of anger. "He is not even a real man!" Jake shouted. Bella stood up and crossed her arms. She began to walk back toward life, back toward Edward. Jake's face was suddenly very apologetic. "Bella . . . I promise, I could be your real man."

Bella stopped dead in her tracks, but didn't turn around. _He is never going to let me go, never going to move on._ She then decided to do what Edward had done for her all those months ago. It was cruel, but she didn't want him hoping for the hopeless.

She walked off, not looking back. A clean break. "Sorry Jake, real men sparkle."

AN: Sorry if the characters seemed a little OOC or if the end seemed off. First fanfic ever, tell me what you think.


End file.
